A blog entirely dedicated to making myself into the person I want to be. Hopefully, I can help someone else while I do.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Rice and beet salad

Things I learned yesterday:

1. If you have a giant pot of food that doesn’t taste good…add sour cream, cheese, and hot sauce

2. Beets are scrumptious! I’d like to try raw

3. My dog… doesn’t like beets.

4. I really like raw greens, salad style. Thanks to Gena, over at choosingraw, I had the courage to massage some greens and put my mixture on top. Yumm!

So, last night, I was inspired by a spotlessly clean kitchen to cook. Tonight was the first day of my wife’s new job. She is now working evenings, and sadly, I was bored at home alone. This is the stepping stone to what she wants to do, so it’s good, but I’m not a fan of the lack of time together. Oh well.

I was watching a Delicious TV video for a recipe called Edamame Rice Salad. It looked delicious and I definitely want to try it. But, I had only one of the items it called for, so I thought I’d try to make my own.

I cooked 2 cups of brown rice (I don’t know how much that made cooked) It was softer than I’d have liked. I’d probably use a tiny bit less water and cook it till just aldente-ish.

Dumped that in a bowl then added a can of corn, but up beets, garbanzo beans, and chili beans.

I would have liked some lime or cilantro…but I had none.

I put in onion powder, garlic, salt and pepper, lots of cumin, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sour cream and mozzarelly cheese. This makes a lot, so feel free to have a heavy hand. The ingredients have little flavor, so it’s hard to over season.

Mix very well. My biggest bowl wouldn’t hold it all, so I put it in my wok.

Then I took a bag of cut up greens (collard, mustard, etc), massaged them, and put them in a bowl and covered them with my rice. Again, cilantro, lime, oil and some sort of vinegar in a dressing would make this perfections, but I had none.

My finished product, half way through my meal:

Sorry about the midway photo. I forgot to take pictures before I dug in.

I was surprised at how good this is! The beets aren’t super small, so every now and again you get a sweet bite. The hot is barely noticeable, so I’ll put some more hot sauce on before I eat again. For those that aren’t big fans of hot, don’t skip the hot sauce. The sour cream and cheese kills the hot, but keeps the flavor. Yum!

This is RIDICULOUSLY filling. I put some in a tortilla and some on a small salad and I only got through half of both. When Mecca came home, I massaged some greens and put them in a tortilla with the rice and served it wrap style and she barely got through it. This is hefty food, start small! This also makes a ton of food, and I don’t know how well it’ll freeze. I’ll probably serve it a couple more times this week and use it as lunches.

I called it Rice and Beet Salad, Mecca calls it Rice and Beet Delight! Isn't she sweet?

Anyone have any suggestions on what else could be added? I think a long grain rice that doesn’t stick together would be good and you could skip the sour cream. Make it more salad-y. Or, if you are in to that kind of thing, those packets of taco seasonings would be good too. Not really my thing, but lot’s of people love them, so that’d be a quicker way to impart that flavor. I thought about seeds or nuts, but the only thing I have is flax, and I haven’t experimented with it yet to know if the flavor would go well.

I’m just now moving away from recipes and venturing out into making my own food. And, even when I have created my own thing, this is the start of me using real whole foods, and experimenting with vegetables. I’m really excited that this worked! Does anyone else have a hard time experimenting with foods they are unfamiliar with?